Lady Gaga
Stefani Germanotta (born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta , 28 March 1986 ), who performs under the stage name''' Lady GaGa''' (Gaga), is an American Singer-Songwriter, Performance artist, Musician, and Disc Jockey. Biography Early Life Gaga was born in Kaya, New York, to Joseph (Joe) Germanotta, an internet entrepreneur and his wife Cynthia, a telecommunications assistant, both of whom are Italian Americans. She was their eldest child. Early in her life music played a big influence and around the age of four, Gaga learned piano by ear and wrote her first song called "Dollar Bills". : :"I still remember the first song I heard. My dad was listening to what I now know was Pink Floyd’s “Money,” and understanding only the sounds of the cash register in the intro, I wrote a song called “Dollar Bills” on my Mickey Mouse staff paper." By the time she was eleven, Gaga was set to join Julliard School in Manhattan, but instead attended the private Catholic school Convent of the Sacred Heart. She sang in a classic-rock cover band during her freshman year of high school at Convent of the Sacred Heart. She did covers of Led Zeppelin's songs along with Pink Floyd and Jefferson Airplane. She wrote her first piano balled "To Love Again" at thirteen. Gaga met Don Lawrence when she was fourteen. :I was singing to myself in a shop down the street from my house, when the storeowner, who happened to also be a musician, pulled me aside and slipped a phone number in my hand. He told me his uncle was a highly respected voice teacher who he thought would like to work with me. I called him up and remember his words, “I work with Grammy Award Winner Christina Aguilera, Bono of U2, Mick Jagger and as the list got larger I got more excited. Gaga began performing open mic nights at the same time. "These were jazz bars not sex clubs," she explains.'' "They would have open mic nights so my mother would take me along and say, 'My daughter's very young but she's very talented. I'll sit with her as she plays.' "Her parents were both very supportive of her. Gaga learned for some years with Lawrence and started writing music as an outlet and less of a hobby. At the age of seventeen, Gaga was one of twenty people in the world to have gained early admission to the New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, where she studied music. She honed her writing skills by composing essays and analytical papers focusing on topics such as art, religion and socio-policital order. Music Career 2005-2006: Stefani Live Spring 2005, Gaga competed and won an NYU wide talent “Ultra Violet Live,” contest to benefit cancer, televised on NYU TV. However she withdrew from the New York University after a year in favour of what she saw as a more honest education, playing her trade on the Lower Lower East Side club scene. After her eighteen years old birthday, Gaga moved out of her parent's house without any financial support from them. During the summer, she began self-shopping and booking at several music venues in downtown New York City at the piano then with a band. By september, she decided to put her focus on putting a glammy band and recording a record. Gaga started to write and play piano-heavy solo songs for about a year with the band. She performed for the first time with the full band, at her home base The Bitter End in October. For the 60nd Annual Colombus Day Parade, she played No Floods live on NBC of which Maria Bartiromo said “''She’s only nineteen and what a voice". By November, with her band, she began recording her five tracks demo, Words with producer, Joe Vulpis. Slowly Gaga gained fans and communicated with them with her own website, Stefani Music, on her MySpace and PureVolume page. She also met Grandmaster Melle Mel and did some writing for this hip hop artist. 2006-2007: Becoming Lady GaGa January 20, Gaga played at The Bitterend and sells out her five songs demo, Words. She continued to do concerts and writing music and by March, sold her first EP,Red and Blue at her home base, The Bitter End. The underground sensation was chosen by Bob Leone, National Projects Director of the renowned and celebrated Songwriters Hall of Fame, to be one of nine performers in the 2006 New Songwriters Showcase at the Cutting Room. She played "Hollywood" and almost overnight, Gaga signed a production contract with Sony's multi-platinum producer, Rob Fusari. One day, Gaga performed Again Again on the piano and her new producer, Rob Fusari said to her "You are just so freakin' Freddie Mercury, you are so dramatic." He started calling her Gaga and she thought it was cool and later, her friends started calling her "Gaga" also. She then later added “Lady”, to feminize it. Together they wrote more polished songs but still somewhere between bittersweet rock ballads to power-pop rock. In July, Wonderful gained web radio airplay on iWebRadio and peaked at number two. After a while she started to find her own music dull. "I was like, 'If it wasn't me, I wouldn't listen to this. I would be bored at this show'" she says. Finding herself surrounded by singers who all wrote the same style of music, she decided to do something fresh and provocative in the rock 'n roll underground: pop music. They started to created a unique electro disco pop sound. The duo labelled themselves Team Love Child because of GaGa describing herself as the hypothetical lovechild of David Bowie and Jerry Lee Lewis. She performed regularity in the Lower East Side and gained a fan base and saw recognition for her clothes and shows. At that time, she had three jobs – Gaga interned at Famous Music, a music publishing division of Paramount Pictures, during the day and at night Gaga worked at restaurants or bars. Jody Gerson, co-president of Sony/ATV Music Publishing, recalls that she was driven to understand the publishing business from a young age. Gaga found her musical niche when she began to incorporate pop melodies and the vintage glam-rock of David Bowie and Queen into the mix. "Queen and David Bowie were the key for me...I didn't know what to do until I discovered Bowie and Queen", Gaga says. "When I was playing the New York rock clubs, a lot of record labels thought I was too theatrical. Then, when I auditioned for stage musicals, the producers said I was too pop". Because of her underground popularity, a representant from Island Def Jam asked her to perform at their office. While she sang, L.A. Reid heard Gaga and he said "I can hear you from my office, you're very loud" and that she was a star and signed her right on the spot, it was the sixth day of September 2006. Her first album was scheduled for May 2007. "But after he signed me, he never met with me. I used to wait outside his office for hours, hoping he'd take meetings with me about my songs, but it never happened. He eventually dropped me after three months." Even after hearing Beautiful, Dirty, Rich, "I was pretty devastated. I know what it's like being on a label when they don't quite get it." says Gaga of her original major label deal. Gaga didn't gave up music as she truly believe it's her destiny and decided to work harder. Around that time, she met RedOne who continued to work with Gaga for free because he believed in her. :"I went back to my apartment. I played a show once a week. I started collaborating with my friend, Lady Starlight, and we would play show after show after. I started getting prepped for a performance." –'Lady Gaga ' Lady Starlight helped Lady GaGa create her on stage fashions while creating burlesque shows at dive bars with drag queens and go-go dancers. During that time, she did also go-go dance to her songs played. When Gaga's father saw her performance art, "He couldn't look at me for a few months," she admits of her early experimentation. "I was in leather thongs, so it was hard for him — he just didn't understand." Eventually, he restarted to support his child and now they are proud of her. The pair collaborated on many projects such as “Lady GaGa and the Starlight Revue”- a low-fi tribute to 1970’s variety acts which featured Lady GaGa on synth, Lady Starlight spinning beats, choreographed go-go moves, shiny disco balls, and hairspray, lit on fire and sprayed into the audience. They did also "New York Street Revival and Trash Dance" together for a month each week. 2007–present: The Fame Early in 2007, Rob Fusari sent some songs to his friends, Vincent Herbert of Streamline Records. After, Vincent went to one of Lady Gaga with Lady Starlight burlesque show and he said to her : "I got you" and signed her on his label. Gaga also sparked the interest of Interscope's Chairman Jimmy Iovine in early 2007. He offered her a label deal via Streamline/Interscope around May/June. During the fall, RedOne played "Boys Boys Boys" to Akon with whom he have a production company called RedOneKonvict. Akon was so excited that he wanted her as writer for artists on Universal (Nicole Scherzinger’s solo project, New Kids on the Block). They met in November 2007 and started writing together and she learned a lot about songwriting during that time. Gaga also wrote songs with Fernando Garibay and Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins for the Pussycat Dolls and Britney Spears. She also worked on Freshly Squeezed, the debut studio album from singer-songwriter and actress, Valeria Andrews. By January 2008, Gaga had relocated to Los Angeles, working closely with her record label to finalize her debut album The Fame where she wrote half of songs in one week. Akon, who, upon hearing her sing a reference vocal for an artist signed to Konvict Muzik, Tami Chyn, recognized that Gaga also had vocal talent. When he heard "Just Dance", Akon decided that he wanted to be part of her music and he ultimately convinced Jimmy Iovine to sign her to a joint deal with his own label, Kon Live Distribution. In April, Just Dance was released as the first single for her debut album, ''The Fame''. During a year, she hustled the radio and television to get her single played. Gaga began a promo and club tour worldwide that lasted five months before going on her first ever concert tour with fellow Interscope pop group, the reformed New Kids on the Block. Gaga started her stint with New Kids on the Block in Los Angeles on October 8, and continued through the end of November. She appeared as a featured guest on the song "Big Girl Now" from their new album, The Block. In late October, Gaga released The Fame in the US, where it debuted at number seventeen on the Billboard 200, with first week sales of 24,000 units, and has thus far peaked at number four. On December 5, 2008, Gaga was added to the BBC Sound of 2009 longlist, which features the best rising music stars. Gaga was confirmed as the support act for Pussycat Dolls on their Europe and Oceania arena dates from January until May 2009. The tour started in Aberdeen, Scotland on January 18, and ends in Perth, Australia on May 30. Gaga's "Just Dance" received a nomination for the Best Dance Recording, but lost to Daft Punk's "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger". On February 18, 2009, Gaga, along with Brandon Flowers of rock band The Killers, joined on stage with electronic dance duo Pet Shop Boys at the 2009 BRIT Awards. Pet Shop Boys performed a medley of their hits when Gaga and Flowers joined for the final number, the 1985 hit single "West End Girls". Gaga's first North American tour, The Fame Ball Tour started on March 12, 2009 and was critically appreciated. Beforehand, Gaga promised her fans that they can expect plenty of high drama from her upcoming performances. She said, "I consider what I do to be more of an Andy Warhol concept: pop performance art, multimedia, fashion, technology, video, film. And it's all coming together, and it's going to be traveling museum show." Awards :Main article: List of awards received by Lady Gaga 2008 *''Nominated'' for Best Dance Recording - Just Dance (Grammy Award) 2009 *'Won' Best New Artist (ESKA Music Awards) *''Nominated'' for Cause Your Hot (NewNowNext Awards) *''Nominated'' for Best Video - Poker Face (MTV Australia Awards) *''Nominated'' for Breakthrough (MTV Australia Awards) *''Nominated'' for People's Choice: Favourite International Video - Poke Face (MuchMusic Video Awards) *'Won' for Best International Artist Video - Poker Face (MuchMusic Video Awards) *''Nominated'' for Music: Single - Just Dance (Teen Choice Awarda) *''Nominated'' for Music: Hook Up - Just Dance (Teen Choice Awards) *''Nominated'' for Music: Female Artist (Teen Choice Awards) *Nominated for Music: Breakout Artist (Teen Choice Awards) *Nominated for Music Album Female Artist - The Fame (Teen Choice Awards) *Nominated for Video of the Year - Poker Face (MTV Video Music Award) *Nominated for Best Female Video - Poker Face (MTV Video Music Award) *Nominated for Best Pop Video - Poker Face (MTV Video Music Award) *Nominated for Best New Artist (MTV Video Music Award) *Nominated for Best Pop Video - Poker Face (MTV Video Music Award) *Nominated for Best Art Direction - Paparazzi (MTV Video Music Award) *Nominated for Best Direction - Paparazzi (MTV Video Music Award) *Nominated for Best Special Effects - Paparazzi (MTV Video Music Award) * Nominated for Best Editing - Paparazzi (MTV Video Music Award) Discography :Main article: Lady GaGa discography , GaGa songwriting discography songwriting for other artists Performances * 2005-2006: Stefani Live * 2007: Lady GaGa & Lady Starlight * 2008: New Kids on the Block: Live as Opening Act * 2009: World Domination Tour as Opening Act * 2009: The Fame Ball Tour Related *MySpace *Official Website Category:Haus Members Category:Mackin Pulsifer Category:SGBand